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15 Amazing Super Bowl XLVIII Stats

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A closer look at some of the statistics, numbers and figures to get you ready for Super Sunday

15 Amazing Super Bowl XLVIII Stats

The top two teams in the NFL will conclude the 2013 season when the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks meet in Super Bowl XLVIII on Sunday. It’s only fitting that the champions of the AFC and NFC have both posted 15-3 records to earn the right to play for the Lombardi Trophy at MetLife Stadium.

This is not the only significant number associated with this game, however. Here are some other noteworthy statistics, numbers and figures to analyze and dissect prior to kickoff.

7: Super Bowl appearances for DenverThe Broncos will play in their seventh Super Bowl this Sunday, tying them with the New England Patriots for the second-most in NFL history. The Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers each have played in the Super Bowl eight times. Denver is looking to claim its third Lombardi Trophy, which would tie New England, the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders and Washington Redskins for the fifth-most. The Broncos have gone 2-4 in their previous Super Bowl appearances, the most recent ending in victories in 1998 (XXXII) and ’99 (XXXIII). This is just the second Super Bowl appearance for Seattle, who lost to Pittsburgh 21-10 in Super Bowl XL eight years ago.

4: Players on Denver’s active roster with Super Bowl experienceThe most notable of course is Peyton Manning, who went 1-1 in the big game when he was with Indianapolis. Tight end Jacob Tamme was a teammate of Manning’s when the Colts fell to the Saints 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV. Wide receiver Wes Welker came up short twice on Super Sunday (both times to the New York Giants) during his six seasons in New England, while cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and the Arizona Cardinals lost a heart breaker to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLIII. Besides the players, Denver head coach John Fox also has experienced the NFL’s biggest stage before, leading Carolina to Super Bowl XXXVIII, where the Panthers lost to the Patriots on a last-second field goal. And the primary architect of this team, executive vice president of football operations John Elway, started five Super Bowls for the Broncos during his career, winning his last two. There’s also center Dan Koppen, who has been on injured reserve all season, but won two Super Bowl rings and played for a third during his nine seasons with New England.

0: Seahawks with Super Bowl experienceNo player on Seattle’s roster has ever appeared in a Super Bowl, which is not that surprising considering the Seahawks entered this season as the fourth youngest team in the NFL. Seattle’s roster averages 25.3 years old compared to 26.3 for Denver’s, according to Pro-Football-Reference.com. Head coach Pete Carroll is 5-4 in his career in the playoffs but his teams had never made it past the Divisional round until this season.

25.5: Points per game differential between Denver’s offense and Seattle’s defenseThe Broncos scored an NFL-record 606 points during the regular season (37.9 ppg), while the Seahawks were tops in scoring defense (14.4 ppg). Seattle is 15-2 this season when allowing 24 points or fewer, as the only team to score more than that was Indianapolis (34 points in Week 5). On the flip side, Denver is 15-2 when scoring at least 24 points per game. The only team that held the Broncos to 24 points or fewer was San Diego, who did it in both the regular season (27-20 win in Week 15) and the playoffs (24-17 loss in the Divisional round).

1991: Last time NFL’s No. 1 scoring offense and No. 1 scoring defense met in the Super BowlSuper Bowl XXV back on Jan. 27, 1991 pitted the high-scoring, no-huddle, K-Gun offense of the Buffalo Bills against a ferocious, physical New York Giants defense that had given up just 12.6 points per game (including playoffs) that season. In a classic strength vs. strength matchup in Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Fla., points were hard to come by, but the Bills had a chance to potentially seal the deal on a 47-yard field goal attempt by Scott Norwood with just eight seconds remaining and the Giants leading 20-19. Unfortunately, Norwood’s kick went wide right, crushing the Bills’ championship dreams and giving the Giants and Bill Parcells their second Super Bowl victory in five years.

22: Career postseason starts for Peyton Manning entering Super Bowl XLVIIICome Super Sunday, Tom Brady (26) and Brett Favre (24) will be the only two quarterbacks in NFL history with more career postseason starts than Manning’s 23. Manning will tie Joe Montana, who went 16-7 in the playoffs including four Super Bowl titles, and is hoping to push his career postseason record to 12-11. A win Sunday night also would make Manning the 12th quarterback to lead his team to multiple Super Bowl victories.

Check out Athlon Sports' special Super Bowl section for more coverage on the Broncos vs. Seahawks and the history of the big game.

4: Career postseason starts for Russell Wilson entering Super Bowl XLVIIISeattle’s third-round pick (75th overall) in the 2012 draft, Wilson will be making his fifth career postseason start with the opportunity to lead the Seahawks to their first-ever world championship. Wilson will become just the sixth quarterback to start in the Super Bowl in their first or second season in the NFL. He will join a group that includes Dan Marino (Super Bowl XIX), Kurt Warner (XXXIV), Tom Brady (XXXVI), Ben Roethlisberger (XL) and Colin Kaepernick (XLVII). Warner, Brady and Roethlisberger all wound up victorious on Super Sunday, while Marino and Kaepernick came up short.

85.4: Peyton Manning’s passer rating in the Super Bowl

In two previous Super Bowl appearances Manning has completed 56 of 83 passes (67.5 percent) for 580 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. That’s good for a passer rating of 85.4, which is nearly 12 points lower than his career mark of 97.2. His Super Bowl mark also is lower than his career 90.1 passer rating in 22 total postseason games. That said, this season has been the best, statistically speaking, by far in Manning’s 16-year career, as he posted a 115.1 passer rating during the regular season. That mark is surpassed only by the 121.1 he produced in 2004, the second of his soon-to-be five MVP campaigns. This postseason Manning has been at the top of his game, completing 57 of 79 attempts (72.2 percent) for 630 yards, four touchdowns and just one pick in wins over San Diego and New England. That’s good for an impressive passer rating of 107.0. Russell Wilson’s career passer rating is 100.6 in two seasons with a postseason mark of 96.9 (four career playoff games).

5.1: Marshawn Lynch’s career postseason yards per carry averageIn six career playoff games, Lynch has rushed for 560 yards on 109 carries. He has averaged 5.1 yards per carry, has posted four 100-yard games and scored six touchdowns on the ground. In fact, if you take out his two yards on four carries before leaving with an injury against Chicago in the 2010 Divisional round, Lynch’s yards per carry average goes up to 5.3. This postseason, Lynch has picked up 249 yards on the ground on 50 carries in wins against New Orleans and San Francisco.

3.8: Yards per carry Denver’s defense has given up in two playoff gamesIn their two postseason wins, the Broncos have surrendered a total of 129 yards rushing to the Chargers and Patriots on 34 carries. Denver’s defense has held the opposition to just 3.8 yards per carry and yielded just two runs of more than 10 yards. In the regular season, the AFC champions tied with Seattle for seventh in rushing defense (101.6 ypg), yet have taken their run-stopping efforts to another level this postseason. And this unit has done so without the services of injured All-Pro linebacker Von Miller, defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson and cornerback Chris Harris.

26th: Seattle’s passing offense rank during the regular seasonThe Seahawks finished the regular season 17th in the NFL in total offense with 339 yards per game, but this was largely a byproduct of the league’s fourth-ranked rushing offense. Seattle averaged 136.8 yards rushing and just 202.3 yards passing per game. Just six other teams were less productive than the Seahawks through the air, as their 26th-ranked passing offense (based on yards) is the lowest of any team to ever reach the Super Bowl. Even the 2000 Baltimore Ravens and 1990 New York Giants, two teams more known for defense than offense, ranked higher in passing offense (both finishing 22nd) in the regular season prior to them winning Super Bowl XXXV and XXV, respectively.

47: Total yards of offense produced by Percy Harvin this seasonWhen Seattle acquired Harvin from Minnesota in March for three draft picks, many expected the all-purpose dynamo to serve as missing piece for the Seahawks’ offense. Besides the three draft picks, Seattle also signed Harvin to a six-year, $67 million contract. The early return on the Seahawks’ investment has been next-to-nothing, however, as Harvin had hip surgery on Aug. 1 to repair a torn labrum. He didn’t return to the field until Week 11 when he caught one pass for 17 yards against the Vikings. Unfortunately, he aggravated his surgically repaired hip in that game and didn’t play again in the regular season. In the Divisional round against New Orleans, Harvin suffered a concussion in the second quarter and didn’t return. He was unable to clear the mandatory concussion protocol in time to play in the NFC Championship Game against San Francisco, but is expected to be on the field Sunday. So far this season, Harvin’s contributions have consisted of one rush for nine yards, four receptions for 38 yards and one kickoff return for 58 yards. The opportunity is clearly here for Harvin to help his team win a world championship, but is it too much to ask of someone who has been on the field a total of 38 offensive plays this season?

+25: Seattle’s turnover differential compared to Denver’s this seasonThe Seahawks led the NFL with a plus-20 (39 takeaways, 19 giveaways) turnover margin during the regular season. The Broncos tied for 13th with a zero turnover margin (26 of each), yet still tied Seattle for the league’s best record at 13-3. The Seahawks have forced four turnovers and committed just one miscue in their two playoff wins, while Denver has no takeaways and two giveaways in its two victories. Combined, Seattle is plus-23 in turnover differential entering Super Sunday with Denver coming in at minus-two. For what it’s worth, the record of the team with fewer turnovers in the Super Bowl is 35-3 all-time.

53: Previous meetings between Denver and SeattleSunday will be the 54th all-time matchup between the Broncos and Seahawks with most of the games happening when the two were in the AFC West from 1977-2001. Denver leads the all-time series 35-18, which includes one playoff game. Seattle beat its division rival 31-7 in a 1983 AFC Wild Card game that was played in the since-demolished Seattle Kingdome. The last time these two teams played was during the 2010 season when the Broncos defeated the Seahawks 31-14 at home.

38°: Projected high temperature for East Rutherford, N.J. on Super SundayAs soon as the announcement was made in May 2010 that Super Bowl XLVIII would be played at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the weather became a storyline. The first outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl in the event’s 48-year history, fears of not-so-ideal conditions escalated last week when pictures of the field buried under a foot of snow hit the airwaves, Internet and social media. Less than a week out, however, it looks like the weather won’t be too much of a factor, other than it being really cold for the 82,500 in attendance. According to weather.com, Sunday’s forecast for East Rutherford, N.J., calls for a high temperature of 38 degrees, a low of 24 and no more than a 20 percent chance of precipitation (presumably snow/wintry mix) during the day. It also doesn’t look like the wind (5-7 mph) will be much of a factor either. NFL officials are prepared should the forecast change dramatically, but the game is expected to kickoff at 6:25 p.m. ET on Sunday and is pretty much guaranteed to be the coldest Super Bowl ever played. The current holder of this distinction is Super Bowl VI back on Jan. 16. 1972 when the temperature at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans was a frigid 39 degrees.

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